This page is my running tally of which countries I’ve visited.

As of March 2023, I’ve visited 55 countries and 30 US states!

Country totals

I’ve broken it down by region, and will add links as I post those sections of this Visit50 travel blog.

Total countries visited = 54 (plus HK, Macau, Puerto Rico)

By region:

• Asia [12]: Cambodia (’10-11), Malaysia, Indonesia,Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Japan, China (incl HK & Macau), Taiwan (’09-10)
• Middle East [2]: Jordan, Bahrain
• Europe [21]: Monaco (2022), Netherlands (’19), Italy (’19), Iceland (’18), Spain (’17), Portugal (’16), Sweden (’15), Finland (’15), Estonia (’15), Latvia (’15), Lithuania (’15), Poland (’15), Czech Republic (’15), Germany (’15), Greece (’15), Hungary (’15), Denmark (’12), Croatia (’09), Bosnia and Herzegovina (’09), Slovenia (’09), France (’07, ’22).
• North America (mainland) [3]: USA (home!), Canada (1998), Mexico (’01, ’05, ’07, ’09, ’17)
• Caribbean [8]: Antigua & Barbuda (’20), British Virgin Islands (’18-19), Turks & Caicos (’13 & ’15), Barbados (’10),  Bahamas (’08), Dominican Republic (’12, ’05), Cayman Islands (2001), Jamaica (’01, ’07),
• Central America [6]: Belize (’16-17, ’06), Nicaragua (’13), Panama (’13), Honduras (’14), Guatemala (’06), Costa Rica (’04, ’23),
• South America [2]: Colombia (’14), Peru (’08)
• Oceania [1]: Australia (’00)
• Africa: none…yet!

(I’m still adding posts for each – so much more to share!)

Total states = 30

(plus Wash DC and Puerto Rico, both of which should be US states)

Notes:

While I’ve been to Washington DC, it’s not a state and was not counted in the total. It has a higher population than Vermont and Wyoming so I’d argue they should change that.

Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and thus is currently neither a state nor a country for this game. It has a higher population than 21 US States (not a typo – see full list here), and I’d argue we should change this, but that’s a very political debate. I’ve also been to St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands too.

What counts as a country?

This is actually very debatable. It’s so debatable that I’ve written a whole post on this! For more on what counts as a country for the 50 and 50 by 50 travel challenge, read on to here.

I’ve visited Hong Kong*and Macau* but are counting them as part of mainland China, which I’ve also visited.

* Taiwan is a separate country from mainland China for this list. This has certainly raised some debate amongst followers of this blog, (primarily with my friends that live in mainland China) and I welcome you to continue it in the comments. I understand that not everyone may agree on this.

How many countries are there?

There’s roughly 200 countries in the world. This comes from the 193 UN member countries in the world, and 2 “UN observers” (the Vatican and Palestine). There are 3 additional countries that are recognized by a fair number of the 195 above (Taiwan, Kosovo, Western Sahara), so let’s include them as well.

I’ve counted Hong Kong and Macau as part of China. Many travelers count them separately, since they have drastically different laws, immigration policies, and their own land, so I’ve always been torn on counting HK and Macau as countries. They’re technically and legally part of China, so I’ve included them as one country in my count. Do you agree?

Make your own map!

Make your own travel map – go this link to see my map, and click the red button below it.